The federal government, through the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi) will spend an estimated sum of N45 billion on free conversion of 30,000 commercial transport vehicles within the next 90 days.
After the first Park-to-Park CNG conversion rally in Kaduna on Thursday, where 100 conversion kits were distributed free of charge to commercial transport workers, another 150 kits were on Saturday distributed to members of the transport unions in Lagos.
At the event held at Biode Motor Park in Ojota, attended by members of the transport unions from the six states of the South-west, 14 CNG conversion companies signed agreements with the P-CNGi management to provide conversion services in different locations in the region.
The presidential initiative targets commercial vehicles, with partners in various states, with a target to convert 250,000 vehicles per year.
Each conversion cost is estimated to be around N1.5 million while the cost of using CNG is put at about N230 per kilogram, cheaper than petrol by over N500 per litre.
Speaking at the rally in Lagos, the Programme Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Presidential CNG Initiative, Mr. Michael Oluwagbemi, disclosed that over 30,000 CNG conversion kits had been bought by the government for distribution nationwide in the next 90 days.
He said the programme was President Bola Tinubu’s immediate palliative to cushion the hardship on the masses, adding that they would go beyond the already purchased 30,000 conversion kits to one million.
With the CNG, he said Nigerians would no longer buy petrol at between N750 and N850 per litre as they will take advantage of the country’s huge gas reserves.
“We’ve bought over 30,000 conversion kits ready for distribution in the next 90 days.
“This will ensure that commercial transport workers are able to benefit directly from the palliative of the federal government of Nigeria”, he said.
“We are signing agreements with the 14 conversion workshops and our target is to set up 1,000 of such workshops. 14 of them are signing agreements with us for Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Oyo”, Oluwagbemi noted.
He said in no distant time, the whole country would adopt the CNG initiative, saying “it is good for the environment and it will help in crashing the prices of food items. This is a major dividend of democracy from the government. The President made the promise and he’s fulfilling it and we have started rolling out the CNG vehicles”.
He said his team had been to 14 states, including Ilorin in Kwara State, Ekiti, Lokoja in Kogi State, Aba in Abia State, Port Harcourt in Rivers, Uyo in Akwa Ibom State as well as significant part of the South-east, South-west and the North.
In his vote of thanks, a former National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mr. Nadeem Yasin, thanked President Tinubu for deeming it fit to assist transport workers in the country with the CNG initiative.
“As you can hear from other speakers, the conversion of one kit costs over N1.2 million. But Mr. President said the conversion of the kits for commercial vehicles is free of charge. So, we need to thank him for this kind gesture,” he said.
Peter Uzoho
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